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Friday, November 14

Jan Scarbrough on Finding Characters

Do you put people you know into your books?

How many times have I been asked that? The ladies in
accounting once asked my husband (then my boy friend) if he was the inspiration
for all of my love scenes. He blushed and ducked quickly out of the cubicle.

Writers watch people, he said. They gather material through
observation, assembling characters from the bits and pieces of people around
them. Sort of like Dr. Frankenstein creating his monster.

More importantly, writers find characters in themselves. The
only person you can truly know is yourself. We understand other people the more
we know ourselves, because we’re all fundamentally human. McKee points out that
if we are thinking it, feeling it, others are experiencing it too.
Self-knowledge is the key to all great writing.

Okay, I’ll buy all that. I don’t have one person in mind
when I create a character, and I admit to putting a little bit of myself into
each one of my characters. McKee says we have to love our characters just as we
must love writing simply because we love doing it.

All profound stuff, but I want to fess up.

I put horses in my books every chance I get.

Over the years, I’ve owned three horses. The first one was a
five-gaited pony named Mr. Too Little. My daughter showed him at local shows as
a “pleasure pony.” In my Bluegrass Reunion series novel Kentucky
Groom, Carrie Mercer owns a Saddlebred pony for her daughter Jesse. His
name? Dr. Doolittle.

In my newest novel in the Bluegrass Reunion series Kentucky
Blue Bloods, I come right out and name a “teaser” stallion Mr. Too Little.

Kentucky
Flame is set on an American
Saddlebred horse farm called Royalty Farm. In the opening scene, Royalty’s
Dreamer, Dreamcatcher, and Royal Tiara are the names of horses saved from a
tragic barn fire. The name of my second horse was Royal Tierra. Get the
connection?

Starhart’s Heritage was my last horse. “Harry” was a retired
show horse, and I bought him when his owner went to college. In my romance Betting on Love,
Sarah Colby rides a horse “named ‘Kentucky Heritage’ but called ‘Harry’ for
short. He was a bay gelding with a placid disposition and an eager way of
going.”

So, no, I don’t put people I know into books. Scraps and
images of people, maybe, but not real individuals. I’m more likely to include one
of my horses into a book. That’s more fun anyway.

Kentucky Blue Bloods
book eight of the Bluegrass Reunion series

No one crosses Parker Stuart, caretaker to his family’s
thoroughbred racing empire. Parker retaliates against anyone who dares slight
him or his blue-blooded British family, especially Regina Ward and her
poker-playing father. The previous spring, Reggie had had the nerve to walk out
on him after a torrid, three-week affair. Now, when Parker arrives in Kentucky
to collect his family’s winnings, he’s determined to settle the score with the
lovely Ms. Ward.

Regina Ward doesn’t consider herself a damsel in distress.
After all, this is America, and she’s accustomed to depending upon herself.
However, when her father loses four of the yearlings from their central
Kentucky horse farm in a poker game, Reggie knows it’s up to her to save what’s
left of her family’s homestead and her proud Kentucky heritage. Can she do it
when Parker Stuart, the most arrogant and infuriating Brit she’s ever met,
shows up in the Bluegrass?

Jan Scarbrough is the author of the popular Bluegrass
Reunion series, writing heartwarming contemporary romances about family and
second chances, and if the plot allows—horses. Living in the horse country of
Kentucky makes it easy for Jan to add small town, Southern charm to her books,
and the excitement of a horse race or a competitive horse show. A member of
Novelist, Inc., Jan has published with Kensington, Five Star, ImaJinn Books,
Resplendence Publishing and Turquoise Morning Press.

Hi, Jan! We're so glad to have you here at WordWranglers today! I don't put people into my books...but sometimes bits and pieces of conversations (I'm an eavesdropper, totally admit!) make their way in. Sometimes the stuff you hear in real life is better than anything you can make up, lol!

I confess to using personality traits of people I know in my books--not the people themselves, but some quirky thing about folks in my life. Mostly, they don't recognize themselves, so I guess it's okay. Love your horses!!! I used to have Tennessee Walkers. Fun!! So glad you stopped by Word Wranglers today!